ISSN 0034-7744
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

We consider manuscripts in all theoretical and applied fields of tropical biology, with a preference to in depth studies of general interest based on significant samples, a solid experimental design and a modern quantitative analysis.

Stringent peer reviewing: The journal publishes articles in all fields of Tropical biology and conservation. Selection criteria are the amount of new information, quality and interest to a general readership. Studies with a strong experimental design, prolonged field work and taxonomic-systematics studies of whole groups are typical of the type of papers that are accepted, while preliminary studies and highly specialized reports are not. Acceptance rate is 40%.

Why submit?  

Manuscripts are judged solely on the criteria of quality and pertinence, and sent to three independent reviewers. The whole pre-publication process is done by Internet to reduce processing time. Authors receive digital reprints free of charge and the articles are published in Internet according to the Open Access Initiative.

High real impact: If you consult anything from specialized papers to serious books on the Neotropics, you will frequently find the journal cited as the source of information, and it is included in key references such as Biological Abstracts, Zoological Record, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SCIELO and Latindex.

Stringent peer reviewing: The acceptance rate, close to 40%, allows a careful selection of papers by importance and subject. The two organs of evaluation and support, the Editorial Board and the International Scientific Board are renowned world class experts.

True international circulation: The printed version of the journal is found in freely libraries of 64 countries where there is significant scientific activity. The journal is also available to millions of Internet users through the World Wide Web.

Scientific mainstream: The journal is part of the “Scientific mainstream” according to the Web of Science and maintains a high level of quality by judging manuscripts solely on scientific merit.

General policies

The journal discourages submission of unnecessarily subdivided reports of a single study. Similarly, the number of authors is expected to correlate with the amount of work required for the study. We will acknowledge reception as soon as your paper arrives. Manuscripts accepted for review by the Editorial Board will be sent to three internationally recognized specialists. Senior authors will receive a journal copy and an electronic reprint (PDF) for free academic distribution. Excess pages will be charged a fee, as will color printing. Submission of long monographs and supplements requires previous consultation with the Editor. Files are discarded three months after publication, we cannot accept responsibility thereafter.

Submission Checklist

The manuscript has the following characteristics

It presents original information on the biology or conservation of tropical organisms.

Detailed field study (typically, field studies done for more than a year are more likely to be accepted), or in-depth laboratory study (range: 8 001-20 000 words).

General instructions

Follow the standard structure of a scientific paper (do not merge results with discussion) and include a note for the Editor to prepare a Spanish Abstract (Resumen) if you cannot provide one.

Apply an automatic spell checker, and state the total number of words at the foot of the first page. Send professional quality illustrations. Images must measure 14 cm in breadth; label with Helvetica 16 pts.

Submit the manuscript in DOC, RTF or DOCX format to biologiatropical@ucr.ac.cr together with an e-mail stating that the manuscript is original and that all coauthors agree with publication. Include e-mail addresses of three possible reviewers

Introductory section

The title is not capitalized throughout (only the appropriate letters), is short and includes Order and Family (botanical papers: only Family).

Taxonomic authority (Author, year) for each taxon appears only once in the main text: the first time the taxon is mentioned. Genera of binomials are written in full only the first time each is used, in the Abstract, main text, Resumen and keys.

The address for correspondence is short but complete; if there are several, they must be numbered. Include e-mail for all coauthors.

The Abstract (350-450 words) must describe the problem being addressed, sample size, sampling dates, how the study was performed, the salient results and what the authors concluded. It must be a single paragraph. The same applies to the more succinct (200 words) Spanish Resumen, which can be added by the journal upon request.

Key words (five to seven) are separated by commas and and are more general than title or abstract words.

The Material and Methods section presents only the information required to repeat the study. Previously published methods are referenced and briefly described. Do not include a map of the study area location; instead, provide the geographic coordinates.

Voucher specimens must be deposited in at least one museum and the details and catalogue numbers given under Material and Methods. Normally, studies without vouchers are not accepted.

Central part

Quantitative data were evaluated with appropriate statistical tests, which are cited only after each result and in parentheses. Example: Height and speed were correlated (Spearman, p< 0.05).

Acronyms are spelled in full the first time.  

Units appear as follows: liters l, grams g, kilograms kg, seconds s, minutes min, hours hr, millimeters mm, centimeters cm, meters m, kilometers km; units are not capitalized and have no period. Decimals are indicated with a period, thousands and millions with a space, eg. 12 523 235.15

When not followed by units, integers from zero to ten are written in full (one, two etc., not 1, 2 etc.).

Citations in the text are ordered chronologically and strictly follow the format of this example: (Smith 1978, Richards 1982, 1985, Walker and Barnes 1992, Robbins et al. 2007). Note use of commas. For more than two authors, et al. is used.

Only cited publications appear under References and vice versa. Unpublished papers do not appear under References: they are mentioned in the text as in this example: (J. Smith, unpublished).

Figures and tables

Isolated figures have been avoided by grouping related photographs and illustrations. Symbols and scales appear as a caption in the figure (never as a footnote). Labels are at least 5 mm from the image border.

Very long or very short tables have been avoided (half a page is a good size) and no vertical or horizontal lines have been used. All symbols and abbreviations appear only in the footnotes. No bold font, or words fully written in upper case, are used.

Final part

Only persons who gave very significant  assistance are mentioned by name under Acknowledgments. “Dr.”, “Prof.”, “Mrs.”, etc. are not used.

References are ordered alphabetically and strictly follow this format, including details such as spacing, commas, underlining, capitals, etc.:

Article

Domínguez R., L.F., F. Zamora & G. Fuentes. 2005. Demography of the parasite Gnathostoma binucleatum (Spirurida: Gnathostomatidae) during a ten year period. Rev. Biol. Trop. 53: 1235-1246.

Book, report or proceedings

Robinson, J.S. 2005. Icthyology. Winsley, New York, New York, USA.

Chapter in multiauthored book

Peters, W.H. 2005. Sediments, p. 7-41. In R. Smith & J.A. Mead (eds.). Tropical ecosystems. Van der Meet, The Hague, Holland.

Thesis

Stern, G. 2005. Evolution of DNA sequences in Netropical cambarids (Crustacea: Decapoda). Ph.D. Thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Internet references:

Anonymous. 2004. Population genetics in tropical birds. Institute for Avian Research, Perth, Western Territory, Australia. (Downloaded: December 23, 2006, www.iar.net.autropical.htm).

Note: References with both paper and electronic versions are included in the standard format, but you must add URL address, e.g.: Perez, J. & K. Smith. 2005. Ultrastructural correlations in tropical cambrian epifauna. Rev. Biol. Trop. 53: 907-932 (www.tropiweb/53/2/perez.htm).

Note: include publisher, city, state or province, and country; shorten printer’s name (eg. write Wiley instead of Wiley and Sons Publications, Inc., do not write “Press”, “Verlag” and equivalent words).

Do not state edition number or total number of pages in the book.

Payment: Publication and download of articles are free, but articles with more than 10 printed pages will be charged $40 per additional printed page.

How to prevent delays

Many manuscripts take longer to process because they do not follow the correct format. The easiest way to conform to our style is by studying the type of letter case, order of citations, format of references, tables and figure captions, etc. in a recent issue. If your manuscript looks like a published paper in this format (except for the use of two columns per page which you must NOT use), it is probably correct. Never underline words: use italics.

Manuscript status inquiries

Our staff spends a considerable amount of time responding to the authors about the status of their manuscripts. We would rather invest the time to process them more quickly. You may consider the vacation periods and help us observing the following periods before sending an email:

Wait five days to receive an email informing you that your manuscript has been received. If you do not receive any message from us after that time, you should communicate immediately.

Wait 30 days to receive a message informing whether our Editorial Board decided to send your article to reviewers.

Wait 60 days to receive comments from the reviewers.

Wait 15 days to process the comments on the manuscript.

Wait 30 days to receive indications on the second version.

Wait 45 days to receive notification of acceptance and payment.

Your may obtain information on your manuscript status at:  rbtap15@gmail.com o darroyom2.rbt@gmail.com

To communicate with our Editorial Office please use any of the following means:

E-mail: biologia.tropical@ucr.ac.cr
jennysanchez.rbt@gmail.com

Tels.: (506) 2511-5550 • (506) 2511-8982 • Fax (506) 2511-5550

Postal address: Revista de Biología Tropical,
Universidad de Costa Rica. 11501- 2060,
San José, Costa Rica, América Central.

Courier: Revista de Biología Tropical, frente a
Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Costa Rica,
San Pedro de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica.

Please note that our offices are closed one week in April, and from the third week of December to the second of January.